“Awaiting Autumn” by John Muro

Awaiting Autumn

Even on the best of days, I confess

To a want to hurry summer towards

Its end, and welcome the lessening

Of sun and indolent mornings that

Open into the luminous down of blue

Afternoons, and take in the descent

Of bereaving mists that drift over

Hills of hard-woods thru gaunt groves

Of birch and fern then hauntingly

Linger within a split-rail expanse

Of pasture, and what little is left of

Leaves hang like bandages soiled

With the dried blood of autumn.

But that season of grief and going

Remains a life-time distant, tucked

Deep within the basements of these

Encrusted cottages that are slowly

Sinking into the strand, or loosely

Cradled somewhere beyond the fetid

Plunder of salt-marsh framed by a

Double-hung window, cracked glass

Adorned with chapped paint and spittle,

Leaning away from land, panes open

To the undulations of petitioning surf,

Gull-squabbling skies and the ruffling

Of laundry strung across yards like

Nautical flags signaling our meek surrender.

Featured art: untitled by Tom Glover

A lover of all things chocolate, John Muro is a resident of Connecticut, and a graduate of Trinity College, Wesleyan University and the University of Connecticut. In the Lilac Hour, his first volume of poems, was published in 2020 by Antrim House. John is a two-time, 2021 nominee for the Pushcart Prize, and his poems have been published or are forthcoming in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including Euphony, Grey Sparrow, Moria, Penumbra Online, River Heron, Sky Island and the French Literary Review. His second volume of poems, Pastoral Suite, will be published this spring. His Instagram is @johntmuro

 Tom Glover is a painter from New England who is inspired by traveling the world and the seacoasts of his home. Color is at the center of his work, which is also marked by strong juxtaposition and contrast.